Anthony Browne has written and illustrated more than 40 books for children and received many honors including the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2000. This counting book presents a series of incredibly engrossing facial illustrations of primates including gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, mandrills, baboons, gibbons, spider moneys, macaques, colobus monkeys, lemurs, and ends with a group of human animals. After celebrating the world of primates, we are able to see that we are all part of one family.
As Richard Louv has pointed out in Last Child in the Woods, many children today are victims of nature deficit disorder; they rarely get outdoors to play or investigate the wonders of rivers, forests, or mountains. Even more lamentable is that they are missing out on the adventures of close encounters with wild animals like the primates in this children's counting book designed for kids aged 3 and up. Anthony Browne's remarkable illustrations from one gorilla to ten lemurs enable us to sense the mystery and the magnificence of these animals and to feel a stirring in our hearts akin to reverence.
